The present disclosure relates generally to systems and methods for recycling spent lead-acid batteries, and more specifically, relates to systems and methods for selectively separating and separately processing portions of spent lead-acid batteries to improve efficiency and reduce costs.
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present disclosure, which are described below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
A spent lead-acid battery, as used herein, refers to a lead-acid battery that is at the end of its useable service life. For other lead-acid battery recycling methods, a spent lead-acid battery may processed by a hammer mill or similar device that grinds the entire spent lead-acid battery into a mixture of particulates that are subsequently pyrometallurgically processed to recover the lead content of the battery for reuse. Such methods fail to take advantage of how the various recyclable materials are arranged in the spent lead-acid battery before processing begins, and it is presently recognized that this failure introduces additional cost and complexity for such recycling processes. Additionally, such methods also have difficulty dealing with certain types of lead-acid batteries, such as absorbent glass mat (AGM) batteries, whose silica content can damage or degrade furnaces used in pyrometallurgical processing.